People and horses have been inextricably linked for centuries. Horses were not just a means of transportation, they were faithful helpers in agriculture and military affairs. But now they have been replaced by “horseless carriages”, so interest in them is gradually fading away. But there are still people devoted to equestrianism and spending time with these noble, intelligent creatures. So the horsemen are the main characters of the Horse Project...
Horse Project is the indie-game about horsemanship and equestrian sports on early stages of development. The game basis is developing relationships between human and horse (horsemanship), so player goal is to be attentive to the horse, understand it behavior and meet it needs. The main activities in the game include horse caring, riding, exploring the world, horse training, participating in competitions, passing quests and more!
Planned Features
Horses:
- Realistic behaviour patterns
- Several emotional states (happy, scared, playful etc) that will affect horse behavior and animations
- Unique character traits
- Ability to interact with player, other horses and environment
- Different horse and pony breeds
- Various coat colors and shades
- Basic needs: hunger, thirst, hyhiene, exercise and communication
- Set of skills including speed, stamina, strenght etc.
- Can become tired after physical activity
- Various tack
Horse Riding:
- Complex riding mechanics
- Realistic jumping (player need to adjust horse stride to jump from the right distance)
- Different jump heights
- Horses can refuse to jump
- Dressage moves (lateral moves, passage and piaffe, piruette etc.)
- Ability to swim for a short time
Horse and player interactions:
- Pat horse from ground and mounted
- Giving treats from ground and mounted
- Lead horse
- Feed, water, brush, wash, clean hooves
- Teach tricks from ground
- Exersice horse to learn new moves
Player:
- Male and female characters
- Customization system
- Various clothes and equipment
World:
- Open world map
- Equestrian club territory with stables, indoor and outdoor arenas, pasture and player’s house
- Various terrain with forests, fields, mountains, rivers, lakes and sea coast
- Weather changing
- Day/night cycle
Competitions:
- Show jumping
- Dressage
- Cross-country
Quests:
- Tutorial quests
- Daily quests
- Short story quests
Trading:
- Horse market where player can buy and sell horses
- Shop with supplies and equipment
Other possible features:
- Horse breeding with realistic genetics; skills, coat color, character traits inheritance
- Natural horse lifecycle
- Building: adding new buildings or modifying old ones on own ranch
- Crafting: creating tack, equipment, food from various resources
- Western disciplines including reining, cutting, barrel racing
- Horse carriages and driving as sport discipline
- Ground work competitions (showmanship)
- Advanced storyline
- MMO version of the game: players will be able to compete with each other, trade horses and items and just have fun together
- Infinite world generation with different biomes
- Wild horses
- Donkeys and mules
More detailed description of the game you can find in concept-document here.